UEL’s women were pushed all the way by an incredibly resilient Bournemouth side at the University of East London’s SportsDock in the late tip-off on Wednesday.
The contest finished 55-54 to the east Londoners after two periods of over-time in the BUCS Basketball 2017-2018 Trophy.
Frustration for UEL
Tope Alli-Balogun, the UEL coach, was visibly frustrated with his side during the game, striking a very animated figure on the side-lines compared to his typically relaxed style in other games this season.
Alli-Balogun spoke before the game of his confidence in his women’s side, and their ability to go unbeaten in their final run of games. However, the coach’s claims looked in doubt as Bournemouth led the home side for considerable portions of the game.
Defending resolutely at the end of regulation time, UEL forced the game to over-time by seeing off a late Bournemouth assault on their defence, which ultimately would win them the game.
The same scenario was repeated at the end of the second period of over-time, with Bournemouth trailing their hosts by a point, a time-out was called by the opposition coach with six seconds remaining. Alli-Balogun’s words had the desired calming effect on his side, and as the clock restarted, the defence remained strong, edging the visitors out by a single point.
Maintaining Focus
Speaking on how his side needed to progress, Alli-Balogun said: “We’ll be working hard on our conditioning. Because the girls know we’ve won the league now, them staying in shape is going to be really important. We do have two more games, but it’s just natural to think ‘we’ve won the league, let’s take our foot off the pedal, not do as much work’ so they could get a bit lazy. My job is to make sure they stay in shape, getting them up and down in practice. We can’t afford to be lethargic or anything like that, or we won’t be ready the next time we play a team like Bournemouth.”
It’s safe to say the team will remain confident in themselves, however this close shave will certainly have kept Alli-Balogun and his team on their toes as crunch-time approaches.
